It’s a historic Glasgow boozer stripped back to its Victorian grandeur - so it stands to reason that some of the oldest cocktail recipes in the city can be found at the Old Toll Bar.

Having described it as the coolest old bar in Glasgow recently, Glasgow Live headed back for a cocktail masterclass and a history lesson - not to mention a signature Kinning Park flip.

The drink may be a luxury these days, but its beginnings are very humble - and it’s safe to say your great, great, great grandfather might have tossed one or two back, even if he didn’t have much money in his pocket.

(Image: Glasgow Live)

The flip was a way to make the less desirable leftovers go further, explained bar manager Craig Turner.

The idea? To use the dregs of the beer, readily available rum, eggs and sugar and whip them all up into something cheap and tasty using a red hot poker. Really.

He added: “We’re in an 1874 building. The cocktail menu had to be of that era, the 19th century - an ancient style of cocktail that has been lost and forgotten.

Read More

“This drink has been around for hundreds of years so it’s safe to say our ancestors were drinking it, because they had easy access to rum and beer, and to sugar and spices via the spice trail.

“The poker would be taken straight from the fire and into the mix to caramelise the sugar.”

(Image: The Old Toll Bar/Facebook)

Now, that’s a party trick we’d like to see behind a modern day bar.

Craig may not have the red hot poker, but he does serve up a refined version of the flip, replacing the rum with black label whisky and the sugar with honey and lapsang souchong tea, to give it a bit of smokiness alongside chocolaty Samuel Smith's stout.

Read More

It’s probably a far cry from what the shipbuilders of old would have sipped after a long day at the yard (in between building the bar itself!) but it’s a nice nod to the city’s past, if you’re on the hunt for a cocktail with a bit of Glasgow history to it.

Watch above as Craig teaches Glasgow Live how to make the unusual but very tasty Kinning Park Flip - and delve into the bar's present day story below.